Open AccessSilymarin: An account of Phytochemistry and Pharmacology
Author(s) -
Abdul Qadir,
Prabhati Kumari Sahoo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the journal of phytopharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2320-480X
DOI - 10.31254/phyto.2021.10408
Subject(s) - milk thistle , silibinin , silybum marianum , pharmacology , medicine , meta analysis , pharmacokinetics , clinical trial , phytochemistry , pharmacodynamics , traditional medicine
Background: Silymarin exhibits inherent hepatoprotective and antioxidant activitycaused by its control of free radicals (FR), which are produced by the hepaticmetabolism of toxic chemicals such as C2H5OH, para-acetaminophen, or CCL4. 3464 types ofresearch have been conducted on silymarin or its formulations. Out of these researches,43 clinical studies on silymarin and 21 on the Milk thistle have been enrolled andconducted the clinical study. Thus, silymarin became a breakthrough in treatinghepatotoxicity due to medicines. Aim and objective: Our aim is to review thephytochemistry and pharmacological activities and the recent clinical trials ofsilymarin. Methods: For this review, electronic databases viz pub med, Medline, sciencedirect and sci-hub identified more than 100 research and review papers searched usingMesh terms silymarin, silibinin, silicristin, or milk thistle and including clinicalstudies. Only 65 selected and analyzed with the criteria randomized double-' or'singleblind'. These publications were analyzed and discussed from a pharmacokineticsand pharmacodynamics point of view and meta-analytic calculations were carried out.Results: An amount of 3464 publications were selected and worked. Out of the completedatabase search, only 21 were included in the systematic analytical review and 9 in themeta-analysis, as per the user pre selection criteria and define parameters. In ourstudy, the results indicated a reduction of (95 percent CI) at the range of ALT and 0.53IUmL-1 (95 percent CI) at the serum levels of AST after using the silymarin, both,statistically significant, but with no clinical relevance. The outcome findingspresented a comprehensive grade of heterogeneity and relatively low methodological worthin the carried out analysis. Conclusions: Based on the present clinical evidence it canbe established - concerning probable risks /probable benefits - that it is reasonable torecommended silymarin as a supportive element and prophylactic in the treatment of livercirrhosis